Life on Standby
by CheeryBroody
Summary: Down and out Brooke Davis finds help from an old friend, while up and coming Lucas Scott needs help of his own. UD 927
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey everyone, this is my new story. I have put Coming Back on Hiatus, I couldnt get any good ideas. I have a good portion of this story planned out, and i like it. I want to thank Kase, Kaos, and Ange for their help. I also want to encourage all of you to check out a writers group im part of called Writers 911. Without further ado, here you go.

She's Gone

As long as he could remember he had liked to watch people, not in a stalking way, but just look at them. He watched them talk, walk, listen, and joke. It fascinated him, the differences in people. Some had wild hand gestures, while others had struts, some walked with their heads up, while some didn't even talk, but expressed themselves through body language. The one thing he would always look at first, though, was their clothes. He always believed that you could tell alot about a person by looking at their clothes. You could tell social status, attitude, finical status, and sometimes thoughts. There were slight problems with his theory though, and he was one, at least that's what he thought. He would always be happy with a t-shirt, jeans, and flip flops, contrary to the suit he was currently sporting. That was the one flaw of his job, suits impressed people, not that he needed to impress anyone, potential clients were trying to impress him, but he thought it would be more fitting to the employees if he dressed the part of the owner.

He was gazing out his huge window overlooking a park, when he felt a presence behind him.

"She did it again, you know." Without looking up, he knew who the man was. He would recognize his brother's voice anywhere, and judging from the tone, he knew the person he was talking about.

"Please don't tell me that, what happened to the last one Nate?" He was tired of this, it seemed to happen at least once a month, and lately it had been happening more often. He had half a mind to tell her off, but upsetting your star client wasn't the smartest thing in the world to do.

"She said, and I quote, 'She just didn't understand me and my needs.', end quote. If she didn't hold all the cards I would have told her I don't understand her either. I am at the end of my leash with her and her god damn assistants." He slammed his fist into the arm of the chair he currently occupied, showing his frustration. "What do we do Luke?"

His star client had a tendency to go through personal assistants like they were clothes, wear them once, throw them out, or in this case, fire them. She had gone through about one a month for the past year, and recently it had been once a week. She was getting the title of bitch from the media, and every time she fired an assistant, they seemed to come up with bigger and bigger stories about her. Lucas was at his wits end with her, if she didn't get her act together soon, he was going to have to do something drastic.

"Ok, let's not worry about that right now, we have experience with that, I need your opinion of a band." Luke looked at him in the eyes and knew what he was going to say. "I just want your opinion, not a yes or no."

"Fine, but this is the last time, and we are going to have a serious talk about it when I'm not so angry. Who are they this time?"

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She got away from the world, finding a secluded part of the park to think. She loved being alone, no one would judge her. She hated that, being judged. It happened though, whether she liked it or not, she was judged everywhere she went. She always thought she could hear their questions in her mind, who is she, is she pretty, rich smart, successful, will she have sex with me, and those were only the questions by the men. She didn't understand why everyone was pre-wired to judge. When she was younger she was judged only by her appearance, she dressed provocatively so she was labeled a slut. All the guys would make up stories of wild nights with the "School Slut", as she was called, when she was typically home alone, or out with her girl friends.

She looked around the park, pushing the memories into the back of her mind, silently telling herself that she wasn't that person anymore, she hadn't ever been that person in high school. Her surroundings were beautiful, huge trees, immaculately manicured grass, and stunningly blue lake, it gave her a sense of ease.

Ease is just the feeling that she needed right now. Life was getting hard, and she didn't know what to do. She was down to a few random dollars, and the rent on her apartment was almost up. She was wearing clothes, although they were the same as yesterday, and her shoes were nearing the end of their run. She was exactly what she told herself she'd never be, down and out. The only question she had to ask herself now was how she could climb out of this hole. Her parents weren't an option, they had given up on her after college, telling her that the money she had was more than enough to cover anything she needed until she got a job.

A job, something she had never had, and something she desperately needed. High school had been a joke for her. To her, high school had been something she had to do, and she never liked having to do things, so she didn't. She would only do enough to get buy, pass classes to move on, she wouldn't be left behind no matter how much she hated school. On weekends, she would go out with her friends, finding a bar, getting in, dancing, get a little tipsy, and go home. She only slept with one guy, and that was when she was a senior, well after the rumors and nick names had started. She had never had to work hard at anything, and that led to no work experience, which led to no job.

She was thinking about all the friends that had left her, the ones she really wanted to talk to, when a loud speaker roared to life.

"And now, FlipSide Records presents, Haley James." A huge chorus of cheers erupted after the man stopped talking.

Brooke stood from the bench and looked behind her. She saw a huge stage and many children sitting around it. Music started, and much to Brooke's surprise, an older version of her best friend, from high school, stepped out on stage.


	2. Stop Pretending

A/N: Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews. Sorry this took so long, schools started, and I was sick last week. I hope you like this, and the next ud will be next tuesday, sorry, ill be out of town this weekend. If I get more reviews, I might be enticed to give you one sooner, but only if I get alot of reviews.

Stop Pretending

After tending to the rest of his meetings, Lucas was, again, gazing out his window. This time, unlike last, a certain figure had caught his eye. A woman, dressed entirely in fur, right down to the matching purse, walked up the street. Actually walked wasn't the word, the word was strutted, she strutted up the street. Occasionally a passerby would wander to close, not watching where they were going, causing a sharp bark or growl, Luke was to far away to make out which, from a dog in the purse. As if sensing his judging eye, the woman stopped, head help high in the air, nose turned up, and signaled a nearby taxi.

Luke watched the retreating taxi, making comparisons between the woman in the taxi, and a woman he knew to well. They both had a sense of fashion, both buying into the theory that, the more money the design cost, the better it made you look. Luke wasn't that way, his theory was that, however much money the clothes were, they were made by the confidence you exuded when you wore them. They were also the same in the fact that their noses and heads were always held high. To Luke that signified arrogance, to the women it was a sign that they were better than everyone, that they were privileged in some way. Luke was beginning to wonder what happened to the woman he knew, he still talked to her, at least once a day, but he wondered what happened to the women she used to be. The happy go lucky GIRL that had quickly found a place in his heart that no one else had. She was someone that he could always go to, always count on, now she was totally opposite.

She was never there, sure she had a job, but she never asked how he was, like she did when they first became friends. She had been the person he turned to, the person he depended on, the person that he needed if he wanted to change. She had helped him change, see the light, take life seriously, and he had repaid her by making her a star. He had made her the biggest star she could be, but during that process she changed. She became self centered, uncaring, egotistical, things she wasn't. He blamed himself for that, he had made her the star. He talked to her about it one day, telling her that she had changed, and she responded with a shrug and a simple "I had to." That was it, he knew he wouldn't get through to her, so he had taken up the position of making sure she didn't get any bigger, but not smaller. He waited, waited for her to slip and fall, to need him, and the way he saw it, that time was getting close.

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Brooke couldn't take it anymore, the sight of her best friend in far better condition than herself was depressing. She couldn't stand the sight of her former best friend on stage, clearly better off than herself. It wasn't that she hated Haley, she actually wanted to talk to her, get her friendship back, but she couldn't bring herself to do it in her current condition.

She looked around, considering her options, and found that the only realistic way to escape led her right by the stage. She sighed, and started walking, making sure to shield herself from Haley's line of vision. As she walked, she could hear the mothers of the children whisper behind her back, the state of her clothes the subject of most.

"There you are, we needed you about ten minutes ago. She will be done in a few minutes, and you have to finish setting up her tent or you won't have a job much longer." A large woman with gray hair had grabbed Brooke by the arm and forcibly dragged her towards the back of the stage. "You're new, so there are a list of rules that you will need to memorize, but here are the highlights. First, whatever you do, don't look at her. Second, don't talk unless spoken to. Third, do whatever she says, no matter how outrageous. Got it, good, you're over here with the rest, finish setting up and then leave."

The woman had, finally, let go of Brooke's arm when they had reached a tent that a few other people were setting up. Brooke tried to protest, but to no avail as the woman had already left. Brooke looked around at the other people that were busy working, and decided that she could get out without too much trouble.

She turned on her heel, and started walking to the opening. As she emerged, Brooke began looking for the grey haired woman that had dragged her here. As she looked to her left, she felt a presence in front of her.

"Excuse me." The presence said, angrily. The voice made Brooke look up, until she came face to face with a familiar pair of brown eyes.

"Haley?" Brooke asked, a little timid.

"And you are." Haley had her head turned over her shoulder, calling the grey haired woman back over, about to tell her that she could find another job.

"Brooke," That made Haley turn around, she knew a Brooke in high school, but this woman in front of her couldn't be her Brooke, she was far to different. "Brooke Davis."

Haley looked into Brooke's eyes, searching for the same playful, cheery soul she was always able to find. She found none, instead she found a broken soul, something that wasn't the Brooke Davis Haley knew. She stepped back, eyes now focusing on Brooke's appearance. She looked at her clothes first, noticing the wrinkles and dirt smudges, then she saw her hair, she wasn't Brooke.

"Brooke, what happened to you?" Haley asked.

Brooke was a little taken back by the question. No how are you, or what have you been up to since high school, all she got was a what happened to you.

"Well I'm sorry if I'm not up to your standards Miss I'm to good for everyone Singer, some of us don't have as good of luck as others." Brooke couldn't understand why she had answered the question with such hostility, but she knew she was wrong.

"Brooke, I didn't mean it that way. I want to help, you just have to tell me what's wrong." Haley pleaded with Brooke.

Brooke sighed and told Haley all that had happened to her since college. She knew that if she hadn't, Haley would have probably dragged it out of her at some point, and she wanted Haley's friendship. It actually made her feel better to get it off her chest, now she was waiting for Haley's response.

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Luke walked in and the mood changed. A big shot in New York, Luke always got attention when he went out, and he liked it that way. He walked over to the bar, sat down, and was greeted by a beer. Luke knew it was free, having Lucas Scott in your bar was free publicity. Luke scanned the club, finding a woman he wanted.

Luke got up, walking through waves of people, towards his target. When he reached her, he slipped in behind her, grinding against her. She turned around, blond hair almost hitting him, clearly not excepting someone to be so forward, her eyes widened when she saw Lucas Scott. She quickly started to grind back, she wanted to be with him, all the women in the bar did. Most would come up at some point, trying to be his conquest for the night, and some being so, but when he set his sight on one girl for the night, she didn't get away.

When the songs changed, Luke pulled her to the bar, ready for more alcohol. They both quickly downed their drinks, and Luke knew she was ready.

"You want to go somewhere more private?" He asked, while leaning close to her, blowing in her ear.

She quickly nodded yes, and he pulled her out of the club and into the night.

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